Command Comfort Blog : Archive for October, 2013

Huntington Beach heating systems benefit from our coastal climate and mild winters, but things can still get chilly when those December rains roll in. You depend on your heating system to keep warm on cold winter’s nights and probably think you need to pay higher energy bills as a consequence. Not necessarily. Preventative measures and some judicious planning can reduce some of those costs and help you enjoy a comfy house without breaking the bank. Here are 3 ways you can save energy this heating season.

Schedule a maintenance session for your furnace in the fall. A trained technician will come to your home, clean the internal components of the heater, tighten down any loose components and check for larger repairs. Getting rid of the dust means less wear and tear on the system, as does tightening the bolts and replacing any minor parts like washers. It improves overall efficiency as well as reducing the risk of repairs later on.

Consider upgrading. While you may not need a new system, adding extra bells and whistles like zone control systems and programmable thermostats can do wonders for your bottom line. The former lets you heat only those parts of the house that you’re using, while the latter lets your automatically turn the heat off and on when you go to work. Both cut down on unnecessary waste, which you can feel with your monthly bills.

Seal your home. Warm air can leak out of cracks around your windows and doors, as well as slipping out through your attic as it rises. You can stop it in its tracks by adding more insulation to your attic, and by sealing up any fissures near the openings in your home.

For tips like these and other ways you can save energy this heating season, talk to the Huntington Beach heating service technicians at Command A/C for help. We offer maintenance and upgrade services as well as straightforward repair, and heating systems are a specialty of ours. Pick up the phone and give us a call today; we’ll talk about your options with you before putting a plan into motion.

Long Beach heating systems benefit a great deal from our mild climate, which opens up numerous options in terms of the kind of system you have. That comes in addition to traditional considerations such as the efficiency of the heater and the cost of installation. If you’re looking to add a new heating system to your home, congratulations! Your investment will likely save you a great deal on monthly heating costs, as well as improving the resale value of your home in one of the most coveted real estate markets in the country. In light of that, it becomes very important to find a heating system that fits. Here’s how to pick the right heating system for your home.

For starters, you need a professional to inspect your home and recommend a properly sized heater. If the heater is too small, it won’t warm your air sufficiently. If it’s too large, it will cycle on and off too rapidly, increasing wear and tear while raising your energy bills in the bargain. A properly sized heater factors in insulation, sun exposure and other factors in addition to square footage. Knowing that size will go a long way towards setting your options.

You also want to pay attention to your furnace’s AFUE (annual fuel utilization efficiency) rating, which is measured in percentages and ranks how well it does its job. The higher the AFUE rating, the more effective the furnace. You’ll want to pick the heater with the highest AFUE rating you can afford.

On top of that, there’s the type of heater to consider. Traditional central heating units are the most common, and they do a good job, but you might want to think about a heat pump, which combines the functions of a heater and an air conditioner into a single unit. Heat pumps use less energy than traditional heaters, and work especially well in mild climates like Long Beach.

Whatever your circumstances, the Long Beach heating installation specialists at Command A/C can help with selecting heating systems. We can show you how to pick the right heating system for your home, then install it with professionalism and care.

Replacing a home heating system is a large project, one that people often feel reluctant to start because of the time and costs involved—as well as concerns about having to go without warmth for the stretch it takes to install the new system. However, if you leave the work in the hands of a top-quality HVAC company with years of installation experience—like Command A/C—your Long Beach, CA heating replacement service doesn’t have to give you major headaches, and the work will be finished before you even know it.

But you should make sure you need heating replacement in the first place before jumping in. Look over these 3 warning signs that you may need a new heater:

1. Noisy operation

Furnaces and heat pumps make steady, familiar sounds while running normally, and the occasional odd noise can indicate something that needs repair. But if your heater emits troubling noises on a regular basis, with grinding and groaning sounds, then it’s possible its parts are too worn from age to work properly any more.

2. Higher power bills—that remain that way

As a heating system ages and its parts begin to deteriorate, it will need to work harder to attain its target temperature. This means it will draw more power to get the same results, and you’ll see this reflected in your monthly bills. A bump in costs could just indicate maintenance needs, but if the costs plateau and do not go down no matter what steps you take, it’s probably time to consider a replacement.

3. Frequent repair requirements

If you’ve had regular maintenance done on your furnace or heat pump (we recommend at least one visit a year), you should expect few repair needs. When repairs start to mount to the point that you’ve put your maintenance technician on your holiday card list… you may have a heater that has reached the end of its usefulness. Look over how much you’ve spent on repairs over the past few years and weigh it against the expenses of a replacement—the results might surprise you.

Whether you decide to get a new heater is, at the end of the day, your choice to make. But that doesn’t mean you should make it alone: you’ll need expert advice from the beginning. Get an HVAC expert to give your heater a check-up and see if replacement is the best option for you. The expert can then help you through the rest of the steps to make the process as painless as possible.

Contact Command A/C when you get serious about heating system replacement. Our professionals in heating in Long Beach, CA will make sure you get a high-quality installation.

If you live in Southern California, you’ll probably be fast off the blocks to call a repair professional when you start noticing unusual behavior from your air conditioner. But since you use your heater far less, you may not move so fast when it starts to signal that it needs expert attention.

However, you don’t want to end up without a heater on the coldest day of the year. If you don’t get heating repair done in a timely manner, you can expect that the first moment your heater breaks down will be an inconvenient one—a time when you have to make it do extra work. We don’t want you to go through the hassle of scheduling emergency heating repair services in Newport Beach, CA, so we’re going to give you tips on how to tell when you need repairs—before they become emergencies.

The heater won’t turn on: There are a few simple reasons your heater might not start: an incorrectly set thermostat, a disconnection from a power source. But if no simple scenario accounts for the heater’s failure, or if your heater makes clicking noises as it tries to start, then the problem is more serious and will require an expert in HVAC technology to diagnose and repair it.

The heater makes loud, strange sounds: If you notice a change from the normal operating noise in your heater, it might be a warning sign of repair needs. Some culprits for loud noises include dirty burners, loose motor parts, cracked fan belts, worn motor bearings, or a gas leak. Take particular note of that last reason: if you have a gas-powered furnace, you do not want to try to find the source of the trouble yourself. There is too elevated a risk of explosion or carbon monoxide poisoning.

Your gas bills make an unexpected jump: Your heating system can appear to function normally, with a good level of warmth and no strange noises, and yet still have malfunctions that make it work harder. If you notice a spike in your energy bills you can’t explain, then your heater may have experienced a loss in efficiency. Professionals can perform tests to see if your system is at fault for the cost increase, and then locate the specific cause and come up with solutions.

Heating repair professionals don’t just come armed with knowledge and skills that you don’t have; they also come armed with the best tools and the ability to use them. Modern heaters are complex machines, and you should leave their repairs to experts, such as the ones on staff at Command A/C. We’ve got your Newport Beach, CA heating repair woes covered!

If you think of heating your home as a basketball with winter as the opposing team, then the adage that “The best offense is a good defense” is particularly true. Even in Southern California, where year-round warm weather is the rule, you need to be ready for the exception. Your heating system requires regular preventive maintenance to make sure that it’s your best defense when those cold days arrive.

We want to emphasize the importance of scheduling heating maintenance in Cypress, CA with these three benefits. With Command A/C, you’ll have an easy time enrolling in our Ultimate Service Club to get excellent annual maintenance on your heater (and your air conditioner as well!).

1. Reduced repair needs

We often have to service heaters with repairs the owners could have prevented with only a single maintenance visit. A properly maintained heater can avoid developing problems like a cracked blower fan belts, clogged air filters, dust-contaminated ducts, leaking boiler tanks, and malfunctioning thermostats. You’ll save money in the long-term with maintenance technicians catching troubles before they become big and expensive troubles.

2. Increased system efficiency

Modern heaters have high AFUE (annual fuel utilization efficiency) ratings—some up in the region of 90% return of heat from fuel intake. But that rating won’t mean much if the system isn’t properly cared for and its parts are worn down or working incorrectly. This means both poorer heating power and increased energy bills. Annual maintenance can keep your heater performing at peak level.

3. Extended system lifespan

Each type of heater has an estimated lifespan. To get the most out of your investment in your heating system, you want it to meet or exceed that estimation. But without regular maintenance to replace worn parts and provide cleaning and tune-ups, a heater might not even make it to the halfway point before you need a replacement.

To sum up, regular heating maintenance in Cypress will not only keep you warm with a working heater, it will save you money on repairs, power bills, and installing a replacement system before it’s necessary. A maintenance agreement like the one we offer at Command A/C is a small investment in many years of comfort and savings. In Cypress, CA, heating maintenance from Command A/C will reward you many times over. Contact us today to get started.